DIY Tablet Holder

DIY Tablet Holder by virginiasweetpea.com

A project that I’ve had in mind for a good while is a tablet holder for my iPad.  For the most part, I use my iPad while reclining on the sofa or in the car, but every once in a while, I use it to make a recipe and found it awkward to continuously look down at the screen to read the recipe. 

I saw a few ideas online for tablet holders and after talking about it with Mr. SP, he came up with a very easy-to-make tablet holder that only requires two pieces.

DIY Tablet Holder by virginiasweetpea.com
DIY Tablet Holder by virginiasweetpea.com

Making the tablet holder wasn’t at all difficult or time consuming.  Here’s how we did it:

How To:

Cut 6” x 6” and  6” x 8” pieces from a 6” plank of wood using a compound miter saw.  We used cedar leftover from making our Chippendale Door but pine or poplar would be a more economical choice.

DIY Tablet Holder

Our cedar was a bit rough, so we ran it through the planer to smooth it down.

DIY Tablet Holder

Since I knew that I planned to make multiple holders for gifts, I ran the rest of the cedar plank through the planer to smooth both sides.

DIY Tablet Holder

A groove was routed in the 6”x”6 piece.  This piece is the base of the tablet holder.

DIY Tablet Holder
DIY Tablet Holder

I originally cut the bottom piece at 6”x7” and realized it was too long.  I used the bottom of a nut can to draw an oval 1” in and cut it out using a band saw.

DIY Tablet Holder

The miter saw was then set to 22 1/2 to cut an angle on one end of the 6”x8” piece.

DIY Tablet Holder Miter Saw Setting
DIY Tablet Holder

Both pieces were sanded with a palm sander until smooth.

DIY Tablet Holder

The top and bottom pieces were set in place and held by a clamp while holes were drilled for the screws.

DIY Tablet Holder

After the holes were drilled, the clamp was released a bead of glue was added to the bottom piece.  The two pieces were joined back together, clamped, and then screws were drilled into place.

DIY Tablet Holder

At this point the piece can be stained or painted.

DIY Tablet Holder

I stained the tablet holder with Minwax Golden Oak stain that we had leftover from another project.

DIY Tablet Holder

After the first holder was made, the next day five more were completed using the rest of the cedar plank.  Note that I did not round the bottom piece on any of these, instead I cut the bottom corners off at varying angles.

DIY Tablet Holder

I used my woodworker’s branding iron to mark each piece with my logo.

Woodworker's Branding Iron

Now when I cook, my tablet will be easy to see using my handy new tablet holder.

DIY Tablet Holder

28 Comments

  1. Very. Very creative. Our daughter gave us a manufactured one that I use all the time but I don’t think it was made with TLC. These will make great gifts and I adore your personal branding iron. How cute is that!!

  2. Good grief, look at you and all the heavy duty tools!! I dream of having those to play with…

    Great job, I love this. I’ll have to tackle this project using the small guns cause I really want one of these!!!

    1. Thanks, Megan. I wouldn’t be handy without my husband’s help. I’m lucky that he doesn’t mind helping me with projects for my blog.

  3. I love this! What a great gift and perfect in the kitchen to hold the Ipad. You have inspired me to make something like this and have my husband teach me more about all the power tools and saws etc in our basement. Just love it! Cheers!

    1. Thanks, Jordan. We enjoy working together in the woodshop. I’m a slow learner, but I’m getting there.

  4. May I have your tools, please? 🙂
    In all seriousness, those are great! I’m going to have to figure out how to make one with my very limited tool selection (like a hand saw, a weak drill, and some screw drivers…)
    Have a great weekend!

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